KAVI - Kings Against Violence Initiative Family & Community Engagement Specialist Brooklyn, NY · Full time

Apply for Family & Community Engagement Specialist

KAVI is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) youth-serving organization with a mission to prevent and eliminate interpersonal violence from the lives of young people through advocacy, peer leadership, community mobilization, and advancing social justice. KAVI promotes community wellness and healing by operating high-impact youth violence prevention and intervention programs in Central Brooklyn by incorporating trauma-informed care, public health principles, and social work practices. Our programs take place in hospital-based, school, and community settings. We are a fast-paced, rapidly growing nonprofit organization. We seek to build a team composed of individuals who are willing to work hard, be creative, build on opportunities, and think “out of the box.”

About Kings Against Violence Initiative (KAVI)

KAVI is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) youth-serving organization with a mission to prevent and eliminate interpersonal violence from the lives of young people through advocacy, peer leadership, community mobilization, and social justice. 

KAVI promotes community wellness and healing by operating high-impact youth violence prevention and intervention programs in Central Brooklyn. Our programs take place in hospital-based, school, and community settings. We are a fast-paced, rapidly growing nonprofit organization. We seek to build a team composed of individuals who are willing to work hard, be creative, build on opportunities, and think “out of the box”. 

All KAVI team members are expected to carry themselves in a professional, role model manner.

Position

The Family & Community Engagement Specialist (FCES) will play a valuable role at KAVI and support an expansion of our work in local high schools funded by the US Dept of Justice. This primary worker leads our strategies for family engagement and parent-child connectedness and serves as an advocate for our participants and their families.

The Family & Community Engagement Specialist is responsible for engaging families through our existing programs, group activities and surveys. The FCES is responsible for making family resources visible to KAVI families through workshops, presentations, and other information sharing platforms.  In many ways the FCES role is essential to successful outcomes that are related to family involvement, advocacy and wrap around family based services. The FCES will deliver quality program support which is essential to optimal functioning of our approach.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for developing and enhancing parental and family involvement in KAVI programs
• Foster relationships with parents and other members of the schools such as the local PTA's, Community Education Councils, School Leadership Teams and community based collaborations through formal and informal contacts.
• Establish linkages with neighborhood-based organizations for the purpose of information gathering, referral and advocacy for families.
• Develop a parent resource center to provide information and referral services for families.
• Maintain attendance records for all parent activities and classes.
• Keep accurate documentation of parents who solicit assistance and wrap around services.
• Keep parents and families informed of all services, trainings, and program opportunities available throughout the community.
• Attend agency-sponsored events or training relevant to the role of Family & Community Engagement Specialist.
• Meet monthly with program coordinators from other sites to discuss program goals and procedures, share community resources and plan activities.
• Plan ongoing workshops, training and seminars for parents.
• Plan monthly meetings with parents to discuss topics of interest to parents.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree preferred or current Bachelor’s student majoring in student counseling, social services, education, or related field
• Experience working with parents in an educational and community based setting; at least 1 year of related experience in youth services, education, public administration or social work.
• Must be bilingual (Spanish, Haitian Creole, French)
• Outstanding communication skills (including internet); collegial personality;
• Strong group facilitation skills.
• Knowledge of youth development.
• Ability to work well as a member of a team.
• Experience in hosting parent workshops, training and planning community-based events.
• Strong ability to create, maintain and to develop effective communication and promotion strategies.
• Ability to engage parents and to organize and plan parent based services, workshops and events.
• Ability to interface with school administrators, partners, managers, parents, and all stakeholders effectively.
• Effective organizational skills and attendance record keeping systems.
• Time management skills and ability to meet short deadlines.
• Word processing skills and experience working with Excel.
• Must be able to work 35 hours per week including some day and evening hours. Some Saturdays required.

Compensation The starting salary for this position is budgeted for $57,000 a year.

How to Apply:  Please submit through the portal or send your cover letter and resume to [email protected] and include “Family & Community Engagement Specialist” in the subject line. KAVI offers a comprehensive employee benefits package. 

KAVI is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to maintaining a work and learning environment free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/civil union status, ancestry, place of birth, age, citizenship status, veteran status, political affiliation, genetic information or disability, as defined and required by state and federal laws. KAVI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act.